about vaccine drawing fire from dr. fauci himself. plus it's a moment from the trump presidency few will forget. the president tossing out paper towels to residents hit by hurricane maria, how a new report details the lengths the trump administration went to keep aid from those same residents. the former mayor of san juan, who had a public battle with the former president, joins me later on this hour to talk about the story and how puerto rico is doing now. but i first want to get to that breaking news out of north carolina as protests over the police shooting of andrew brown jr. are continuing moments ago, brown's family, along with their attorney and other advocates wrapped up an emotional press conference demanding the release of officer body cam footage from the deadly altercation and accountability for brown's death. listen to this. >> with all these killings going on, i never expected this to happen so close to home. like, he left a close and tight family with each other every day, talking to each other every day. >> he did anything and everything that they asked of him, and i know his children are going to miss him. we are all going to miss andrew. he did not deserve what was done to him. >> my heart is broken, because these children are left without a father. >> joining me now is john dowding, reporter at our nbc affiliate and josh shaffer, reporter at the raligh news and observer. i want to start with you on this one and get your reaction to the news conference and specifically what brown's family had to say. also, their continued calls, of course, for the body cam footage and the likelihood that they will see it. >> yeah, well, yasmin, i mean, that's the biggest calls right here in north carolina, here in elizabeth city. we heard today, the biggest piece of news coming out of this press conference is the local naacp chapter calling on the resignation of sheriff wooten as well as the district attorney here in the county. they're saying that he's been waiting too long for that body camera footage. they say the family has been left in the dark about the events that led up to brown's death as well as after the fact, and that's why they want this body camera video to be released. they're also calling for a federal investigation into pattern of practice violations, potential pattern of practice violations, i should say, here in the county, including the sheriff's office, again, this whole scene here was something that happened from the sheriff's office, not elizabeth city county police, as well as they're also calling for the north carolina general assembly to pass sb 510, senate bill 510, which they say would allow for body camera video to be put on the record so they're just calling for a number of things. the number one thing being the release of body camera video. now we are just waiting to hear from when that might happen. not sure on a timeline but that's the latest on the press conference. >> josh, talk about the circumstances that led up to the shooting of andrew brown jr., specifically some of your reporting we're hearing a neighbor saying brown was in a car when many shots were fired. a lifelong friend of andrew brown jr. said he fled from the sheriff's deputies in his car before more than a dozen shots were fired at the vehicle, killing him. what more are you learning about the circumstances leading up to this shooting? >> neighbors who have known andrew brown all their life tell us that they heard the first shot early in the morning on wednesday, ran down the street, wasn't very far away, and when they arrived, they saw him pulling away out of his driveway, heading deep into an empty lot next door and deputies -- they weren't certain how many were actually firing but they counted as many as 14 shell casings on the ground in his driveway. his back window was shot out. radio traffic later reported that he was shot in the back. he crashed into a neighbor's tree nearby. pieces of his car and headlights were still in the tree. he was pulled out of his car and was already deceased by neighbors' accounts when he was pulled out, and they attempted to resuscitate him, but he was already passed. >> john, in this current climate, do you think -- why do you think they are choosing to withhold this body cam footage? >> well, yasmin, i mean, we are really just waiting to hear more from the sheriff's office here. i mean, we have seen right now, i just want to pull up some of the latest information here. some of the deputies here are receiving threats in the county after what's been going on here. there's a lot of emotion in the community just when we were pulling in before this press conference, we saw a protest just up the road here, so there's expected to be more protests going in tonight, calling for the release of that body camera footage. we don't know why there's been a hold-up from the sheriff's office to release it. we do know in north carolina you do need to file with judges here to be able to get that body camera video released but tensions are high, especially after the results of the chauvin trial earlier this week. >> josh, could you weigh in on this? because as i mentioned in the last hour, we talked about other shootings happening across the country in which the bod in this particular case. any reporting from your end as to why they would be holding this back in this moment? >> the law in north carolina has been changed fairly recently, and a judge is the only authority who can release body cam footage. the family can request it. the law enforcement agency that has it can request it, but a judge has to sign off, and so far, that has not happened. the mayor of elizabeth city asked for the law to be changed just today in order to keep that from happening but there's a lot of jurisdictional tie-up. the city council has no control over the sheriff's deputy. that's a separate agency, and yet a state judge has to authorize the release of the video. everyone is waiting on this, it's a very small town. if you've lived there for any length of time in elizabeth city, you probably know everyone else there. i hadn't been in town for 15 minutes on wednesday without meeting six different people who knew andrew brown personally. i met his 92-year-old grandmother who is among the people hollering for this to be released, but the law is such that right now, unless a judge signs off on it and it's saturday, that can't happen. >> all right, jon dowding, josh shaffer, thank you both. appreciate it. thanks for joining us on this. in just one month, america could be a major step closer to substantial police reform. at least that is the goal of some democrats. may 25th will make a year since george floyd's death and representative karen bass has suggested that day as a deadline to iron out details about the future of policing in america. i want to bring in another democrat, congresswoman robin kelly from illinois to talk about this. let's talk police reform here, congresswoman. one of the issues that we're talking about. >> thanks for having me. >> of course. one of the issues we're talking about right now is the situation with andrew brown jr. and the lack of the release of this body cam footage. something that needs to be addressed when we're talking about police reform, how you have the sheriff's office essentially overseeing the release of this thing when people need clarity as to what happened. >> oh, definitely. i think when you release the tapes, it shows transparency, and that's what people are asking for, transparency and accountability, and actually, i think it makes it better. this is just building up animosity, it's building up, you know, anger because they're not -- and more questions because they haven't released the tape. >> where are negotiations now when we know the george floyd bill was actually passed in the house in march but of course not even a vote has taken place in the senate for this. where are negotiations now when it comes to police reform on a federal level? >> congresswoman bass is working closely with senator cory booker and senator tim scott to try to come to a compromise on the george floyd justice in policing act, and she's hoping that sometime in -- around the anniversary of his death, that we will have something that will pass in the senate, that then will have to come back to the house, of course, before it goes to president biden. >> what type of understanding do you have as to which senators, republican senators, i should say, would come on board, the ten votes that are needed in the senate to pass this bill and get it through? what names are you hearing of folks that could get on board with this thing? >> i mean, i'm thinking just the mitt romney, susan collins, again, tim scott, maybe lisa murkowski. not sure of all the names because you just never know in the senate. i hate to say. but it's true. but those are some of the names that i have seen that possibly might come on board. >> what are some of the most important things you think that need to happen when it comes to police reform? i want to read a part of your statement after the chauvin verdict was delivered in which you say people of color across the country fear police brutality every single day and one conviction is not going to change that. we must pass the george floyd justice in policing act and additional bold police reforms. by additional bold police reforms, what do you mean? >> well, i mean, we have to stop the no-knocks and drug cases. we have to stop the chokeholds. i believe in -- i voted for the bill, so qualified immunity, i think there needs to be a national registry, so those folks that should not be police officers can't jump from one police department to another. we have to stop the racial profiling and religious profiling. there's a lot of work to be done. >> do you think we're turning the corner after the chauvin verdict, turning the corner not only in this country but in washington to get reform through? >> time will tell. that's all i can say. time will tell. >> congresswoman robin kelly of illinois, thank you. appreciate you joining us. >> thank you. for more, i want to bring in my panel, christina greer, she's also politics editor at the grio is the author of "black ethics" and former republican congressman from florida, david jolly. christina, let me start where i left off with the congresswoman, which is, is this a turning point? a turning point not only across the country when it comes to police reform but in washington as well? it seems like there is some optimism that something can get passed in the next month or so, needing ten votes in the senate. do you think it could happen? >> we're going to have to keep pushing. i mean, there are so many republicans that are still under the haze of the trump era, and they're so afraid of what donald trump may think about them and their behavior that it's still affecting them. i think some other areas of optimism, obviously, merrick garland is head of the d.o.j. and the folks he's trying to put in place, gupta, clark, obviously hopefully she'll get the votes from republican senators so we can have a substantive conversation about what policing across the nation looks like in police departments large and small across the country. because it's not just minnesota. it's not just north carolina. it's not just ohio. it's not just new york. we know, sadly, there's so many families and communities that are still grieving because of what's been going on to individuals who have been killed by police officers, and so, yeah, i'm hoping that republican senators will think about what's for the good of the country and not just hyperpartisanship and not just what donald trump would want, but i think, honestly, as representative kelly said, time will tell and we have to see which republicans will have the courage to stand up and do what's best. >> david jolly, the good of the country but also what americans want, once and for all. look at some of the polling. policing in america from a "washington post" abc poll, 60% of americans saying more police accountability and yet there's a pushback, not even a vote yet in the senate. >> yeah, so, look, i think the baseline is most americans want greater accountability, greater transparency, and then the devil's in the details. and i think if that is where the focus lies, that the bill will get ten republicans in the senate. because anything that increases transparency and accountability after incidents like we saw with george floyd and the derek chauvin trial, and conviction, will get the support of the american people and i think a few republicans as well. yasmin, the intention of qualified immunity and some of these balancing tests has been simply to protect reasonable mistakes in judgment. that's what the law is supposed to protect. the supreme court language should protect. in its application, what americans have seen is qualified immunity and other protections are going much further, but the nation got a taste of justice in the derek chauvin trial, and i think they want to see more of that justice, and i think some republicans politically will realize that in the week to come. >> christina, this is a striking quote from a minnesota police chief, a black minnesota police chief, i should be specific about that. chief anderson saying, i'm the chief of police and when i see a squad car behind me, my heart skips a beat. when i was a captain, i was wrongfully felony stopped by a white officer and pulled out of my car, face down. this is from a police chief. himself. saying this, afraid of a squad car behind him. that is astounding. >> is it, though? i mean, yasmin, so many people don't understand realities that black americans of all stripes face on a daily basis. i know that my ph.d. won't protect me. we know that black people aren't safe in their homes, sleeping, in their churches praying, walking in the street, driving in their cars. it doesn't matter if you're a member of the police department. we've seen this in new york with sort of the wall of blue where black officers aren't protected. and so i think in the derek chauvin trial, we saw an individual justice. what we're calling for is institutional justice. we're calling for an institutional change, and so yes, this is one bad police officer who will most likely spend some time in prison. but that's nothing compared to what so many communities have faced and so many families who have never seen justice from what's happened to their loved ones at the hands of police officers. even family members who have police in various departments across the country. >> david jolly, final word here? >> i think what the nation came to see in the chauvin conviction is murder is murder, whether you're wearing a uniform or not. and what we saw was justice. and anything that leads us to greater justice probably starts with greater transparency and accountability so that the american people in communities and victims can have the evidence, and if the case is there to be made against a police officer, so be it. if not, then it won't be. >> christina greer, david jolly, thank you both. coming up, everybody, while trump was throwing paper towels in puerto rico after the island was devastated by hurricane maria back in 2017, a new watchdog reveals his officials were delaying relief aid to the island. the former mayor of san juan, who publicly feuded with the president joins us next. ly feude president joins us next. finding new routes to reach your customers and new ways for them to reach you is what business is all about it's what the united states postal service has always been about so as your business changes, we're changing with it with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now next day and two-day shipping nationwide same day shipping across town returns right from the doorstep and deliveries seven days a week it's a whole new world out there let's not keep it waiting trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... ♪ if you've been taking copd sitting down, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. is mealtime a struggle? introducing ore-ida potato pay. where ore-ida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this... ...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime. welcome back. a new probe has found the trump administration not only blocked critical aid to puerto rico after hurricane maria, but also tried to interfere with the investigation. the 2017 hurricane was one of the deadliest u.s. disasters in the last century. it left puerto ricans with no electricity, no clean water, and for thousands, no homes for months. in a delay in much-needed humanitarian aid to the u.s. territory led to a very public feud between then president trump and the mayor of san juan. >> i think you have an even worse mayor of san juan. she's horrible. i think she's horrible. i watched her -- my people did nothing but complain about her when we helped them with their hurricane problem. >> i think it's conduct unbecoming of a leader of a free world. >> the mayor of san juan, puerto rico, is a horror show. she's incompetent, grossly incompetent at the same time the governor's not good. >> so, the new report from the department of housing and urban development office of inspector general found the trump administration intentionally created bureaucratic hurdles that prevented $20 billion from being given to the island while trump himself visited san juan where he, of course, seen here, throwing out paper towels at residents and praising his response. i'm joined now by the distinguished fellow in leadership from the weissman center and former mayor of san juan, carmen yulin cruz. thank you so much for joining us on this. really appreciate it. the delay in aid was described by a h.u.d. official as, quote, groundhog day. the request for money, they were returned so many times, he said, quote, it's almost like we're going to keep bringing this back to you until you just eat it. $20 billion of delay -- of money delayed to puerto rico. after those hurricanes. how devastating was that? for puerto rico? >> well, $20 billion that would have gone to help people get help in the hospitals and not have doctors have to do surgery with the batteries on their cell phone. 3,000 lives taken by a man that i would say that, you know, these deaths are on his conscience but he had no conscience. in that clip that you showed, when i shook his hand when he came down to puerto rico for a nearly six, eight hours, i said to him, mr. president, this is not about politics. this is about saving lives. he never got it. he thought this was about him, and those deaths, those 3,000 deaths are on him. he could not even come to do what is so natural for a leader to do, which is to try to save people's lives and what i think needs to happen now, not only have that report, which, of course, support what i said and raised as a red flag from the beginning, that we were dying and that he was killing us with his incompetence and his indifference, but true to form, a coward that he is and was, he tried to cover it up. and what i hope is that this doesn't stay just in a report but that this is sent to the department of justice of the united states and we can see if criminal charges can be brought against him and against other members of his administration that aided him to turn his back on us and caused the death of more than 3,000 people. right now, today, 3,000 people did not open their eyes. those are mothers, fathers, children, grandchildren, grandmothers and all because this man, his ignorance and his intolerance and his racism was really put to the test and to be shown to the entire world. talk about showing through colors? that was and is donald trump, and the aftermath of that will be felt in puerto rico for decades, still, and we see a light at the end of the tunnel with the biden administration when there is a release of funds that is coming down to puerto rico, but it's unconscionable that he let us die because, to him, we were expendable, and we are not expendable. we are proud to be puerto ricans and our lives deserved to be kept. >> i just want to read a few things from this 46-page report from the h.u.d.'s office of inspector general about ways in which the investigation was actually obstructed. the access to h.u.d. information in this review was delayed or denied in several instances. we did not obtain testimony from former h.u.d. secretary ben carson, delayed in interviewing several senior h.u.d. political appointees, unable to obtain information from several former senior omb officials, experienced delays in our access to relevant electronically stored information. how is puerto rico still suffering now from the lack of aid they got after those hurkz devastating the island? >> not only that, let me add that i was invited to come in october of 2017 to a hearing in congress, that congressman benny thompson put together as the head of -- the chair of fema and republicans just, you know, canceled it. they said, no, we're not going to be having it. so from the congress, also, republicans aided president trump to obstruct there. puerto rico is still going through a great, great undertaking. there are still, at least in january, more than 3,000 homes filled with blue tarps. of course, you know, that after the two hurricanes, there came two earthquakes in january of 2020 and then the pandemic, so insult to injury on what donald trump did, we still continue to receive not the funds that were promised to the people of puerto rico, and this is not aid. this is not help. this is just really what governments do when there's a crisis. they move forward and give permanent solutions to reoccurring problems, so i am hoping and hopeful that the biden administration would make their promise concrete and release the funds for people to continue to try and, frankly, get some semblance of normalcy, but i can tell you that we are still grieving for those 3,000. we are still -- i myself walk through the city of san juan, of course, as a mayor and saw our buildings become cages for our elderly. i saw people gasping for air. i saw people looking at their lives through the rubble of their homes. and those are things, trauma that can very seldomly be overcome, all because of a coldhearted man that denied us the right to be taken care of and to save our lives. >> and amidst all of this, puerto rico having the worst week in covid cases since this pandemic began. former mayor of san juan, carmen yulin cruz, thank you so much. after the break, we are live in columbus, ohio, where protesters are calling for justice in the deadly shooting of 16-year-old ma'khia bryant earlier this week. stay with us. 6-year-old ma'khia earlier this week. stay with us this is worth. that takes wealth. but this is worth. and that - that's actually worth more than you think. don't open that. wealth is important, and we can help you build it. but it's what you do with it, that makes life worth living. principal. for all it's worth. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! 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if the -- the science tells us the vaccines are 95% effective, so if you have a vaccine, quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not? >> this comes as health officials stress as many americans as possible need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity or face a never ending virus cycle. i'm joined by ali vitali and shannon pettipeace. ali, let's talk about senator johnson here and the pushback, i should say, for essentially what he said there about vaccines. >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, it came pretty swiftly, and it came from dr. anthony fauci on msnbc less than 24 hours after johnson initially made those comments where he questioned why officials would be pushing the need for every american to get the vaccine. listen to how fauci responded to that. >> well, there's a pretty good reason we have 567,000 people who have died so far in this country from this disease. that is a really, really good reason to get people vaccinated. >> reporter: and that is the reason, yasmin, especially as you look at the way the biden administration has had to clear several kinds of hurdles with people who might be hesitant to get the vaccine. clearly, when you hear someone like republican senator ron johnson talking about the need -- the questioning why people need to get vaccinated, that lends to hesitancy among conservatives and republicans. we know the biden administration recognizes that partisanship is a hurdle that they have to clear here as they try to get all americans comfortable with the vaccine and willing to get their shots, but comments like this, they're not just political. there's also a public health risk to them. it's notable that dr. fauci would smack it down so quickly, but it also is another reminder that as the vaccine stockpile continues to grow, as more vaccines become available, and as all americans are eligible to get them, this is one of the roadblocks in the way. it's a reminder that partisanship is not just a legislative barrier. it's a public health one, unfortunately, now too. >> shannon, how is the biden administration addressing vaccine hesitancy and the possibility we may not achieve herd immunity because of it? >> well, they acknowledge that we're entering a new phase. we're getting beyond the people who saw this as a real urgency to get vaccinated because they were high risk, they were older, they were in a nursing home, and now that we're getting into the general population, they acknowledge it's going to take a different approach, and part of that approach, they're saying, is to make the vaccine as easy and convenient as possible and to break down any barriers that might be in people's way, because in addition to people who might have these, you know, deep beliefs and concerns and fears about vaccine safety or they're believing some internet conspiracy theory, the administration believes there's also a group of people who would get vaccinated but it's just not a high priority for them. maybe they're younger, they think they're invincible, maybe they're just busy, they're working two jobs, and so they're trying to do things like encourage employers to provide paid time off for people to go get a vaccine or if they need a day, if they're feeling sick afterwards, to have employers offer an incentive, like a gift card even, they said, can help get employees vaccinated or workplace vaccination clinic. they're offering vaccines now at 40,000 retail pharmacies. i know just anecdotally, i've talked to people who weren't necessarily going to get vaccinated but saw one was available in their cvs so they decided to roll up their sleeve and get one so there's that population they're trying to reach but they acknowledge there is a group that is pretty deeply firmly against getting vaccinated. they are largely in rural areas, poll after poll indicates that they are conservative, and they're also taking steps to try and reach that group with the rural population, they're deploying more mobile clinics to bring it out to some of the areas that have been harder to reach and they're trying to use this messaging through groups that conservatives have association with, like the national evangelical association or nascar to try and get the message to them out there that, of course, you know, not only is it important for people to get vaccinated if you're old but even if you're young because as we've been talking about here, we're seeing icus fill up in places like michigan of people in their 30s and 40s so that's a message they're also trying to get out there to younger people. >> ali vitali, shannon pettypiece, thank you both. so, a string of fatal police shootings nationwide has left several communities reeling. in nashville, an officer is now on administrative leave after fatally shooting a man during a traffic stop. body cam footage showing the victim attempting to enter the officer's vehicle before charging at him with two butcher knives. and then in virginia, authorities are facing mounting questions about a shooting that nearly killed a 32-year-old man after the officer reportedly mistook his phone for a gun. according to a 911 call released on friday, the victim, isaiah brown, called police himself after his brother refused to let him into his mother's room. brown threatened his brother during the call and appeared to respond, yes, when the dispatcher asked if he had a gun before later saying, on at least two occasions that he did not have a gun. protesters are demanding answers as to how the situation escalated. we're going to monitor these stories, of course, for updates as they do emerge and progress. also over to columbus, ohio, facing a fifth day of demonstrations following the fatal police shooting of 16-year-old ma'khia bryant. her death came just minutes before a minneapolis jury convicted derek chauvin in the murder of george floyd and is sparking new calls for a federal probe into the columbus police department's use of force. chris pollone is outside the ohio state house where demonstrations are under way. good to see you once again. talk us through here how protesters there have been responding to the body cam footage of the shooting. >> reporter: yasmin, as you can see, there's another group behind me. this is actually a different group than what we saw earlier. they marched here from another part of the city just a short time ago, and they are also chanting, black lives matter and say her name, ma'khia bryant. they are reacting much as you would expect. they are upset about a 16-year-old girl being shot to death, both police and protesters have called that a tragedy and something that shouldn't have happened. but the perspective here from a lot of the protesters is, was there anything else that could be done? and now, as you know, on tuesday afternoon, when this happened, there were two 911 calls that brought columbus police to that home in a part of the city, and when the first officer arrived, he's been identified by police as nicholas riordan. when he got there, he saw a fight, a melee kind of break out in front of him and police have shared multiple videos, body cam and police cruiser videos showing this incident because they wanted the public to see for themselves. the police described the video, saying that the officer's bdy cam shows that ma'khia bryant appeared to try to strike someone with a knife and then also went after another young woman with a knife and that's when officer pulled out his service weapon and fired four shots, ultimately killing her. people are upset in columbus because this has happened multiple times over the years. in fact, 20 years ago, the clinton administration sued the city for civil rights violations so the relationship between police and the community here has been under the microscope for that time. there's been more recent incidents that led to the police chief resigning back in january. i asked one of the organizers of one of today's marches what she hoped the world would hear from these protests. >> i hope that we can get that eventually. i hope that they hear us out and you know, maybe step in our shoes a little bit and see where we're coming from as not only african-americans but there's caucasians out here, mexicans, any race out here and it's just like, we all are just trying to have a change, not only for us but police too. we care about them. we don't want any problems with them. but when you only show us one side of how you work, you know your career, what you're doing, we can only look at you in one way. >> reporter: day five of protests on a rainy day here in columbus, ohio, yasmin. >> another day, another police shooting, and i just want to apologize, folks, i mispronounced the victim's name there, getting clarity from chris. ma'khia bryant, the victim's name. coming up, everybody, instead of focusing on stopping police brutality, many republican states are cracking down on protesters, not police. details on that coming up next e. e. our subaru forester. 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(male vo) welcome to the subaru forester. the longest-lasting, most trusted forester ever. we started with computers. we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. so when it comes to your business, you know we'll stop is mealtime a struggle? introducing ore-ida potato pay. where ore-ida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this... ...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime. welcome back. the conviction of derek chauvin in the murder of george floyd would likely not have happened if not for the pressure put on minnesota authorities by massive nationwide protests calling for justice. now some lawmakers are trying to crack down on that right to protest. in florida this week, republican governor ron desantis signed what he dubbed an anti-riot bill. and in oklahoma, they've passed a bill that grants immunity to drivers whose vehicles strike and injure protesters. a new nbc op ed is calling out this type of legislation, saying, they're turning against the movement leading our overdue national reckoning. one of the coauthors of that piece joins me, cochair of the economic security project and co-host of the system change podcast. dorian, thanks for joining us on this. i appreciate it. 81 bills introduced in 34 separate states by gop lawmakers. what can you tell us about these efforts to restrict the fight to protest? >> yasmin, it's remarkable what's happening, and there's two moves that the republican party is using in state houses across the country. the first is to rig the rules to prevent people to vote. there are 360 bills and counting on voter suppression in state houses around the country, and then the second move is to prevent the right to protest. the first amendment right that we all have in a so-called democracy to express our voices, especially around injustice, and as you said, close to 90 bills in 35 states to criminalize protest. so, in essence, what we have here is the modern republican party giving up on debating on ideas or policies. this is just about exclusion. we don't want you to vote. we certainly don't want you to protest, so we're going to silence you at the end of the day. >> what does this tell you about where republicans are at right now, considering the fact they're trying to restrict the right to vote of minorities of black and brown communities after losing an election, now restrict their right to protest across the board after some of the protests we saw over the summer and following? >> well, it tells us that we know voting and protest actually works in terms of transformative change and advancing justice, and so this is a backlash and a restriction on this long-held tradition in american democracy of the right to protest and especially of black people, of the right to protest, especially when we could not participate to vote in an election until very recently, if you think about the long soup of american history. this is an effort to restrict the voices, particularly of black americans, but those of good conscience, to restrict our voices, to show up and say, we demand justice. but then to also restrict our efforts at the ballot box. >> i want to read from some of your op-ed here. people in big cities and small towns across the country and around the world came together last summer after the killing of george floyd. these largely peaceful gatherings were routinely met by militarized police armed with tanks, chemical irritants and rubber bullets. we are black men and veteran community organizers who have seen firsthand how police act with violent impunity when black and brown people and immigrants and those that support them gather. so folks would say, look, we introduced these bills to restrict rioting, right, could this bleed into the peaceful protests that we have been seeing across this country, the majority of which of the protests that we have been seeing? >> they will attempt to prevent protest. as you just highlighted in the previous story, this is day five of protests in columbus, ohio. and in terms of the police killing of ma'khia bryant there. everyone is going to keep showing up and showing out and showing our voices, demanding justice. there's no question. but think about this, yasmin. think about what happens after a sporting event on a college campus when we see largely white men who are rioting and protesting. there's no wave of bills to prevent that. think about what we just lived through on january 6th, a treasonous insurrection, you didn't hear the republican party saying we need to prevent protests and criminalize those who would try to overthrow the election results, right? we didn't hear anything. but when black people and others show up for racial justice, then all of a sudden it's a problem. then, protest becomes a problem. >> that's interesting. we point fingers at other countries when it comes to cracking down on human rights and i've done a lot of work overseas, specifically in iran where they crack down significantly on protests and it's starting to sound a heck of a lot like what's happened overseas is beginning to happen here as well. >> or hong kong as well. >> dorian warren, thank you so much. appreciate you joining us. coming up, everybody, caitlyn jenner is officially running for governor of california in the state's recall election and gubernatorial primaries are under way in virginia. we are live there after the break. rginia we are live there after the break. ef from the world's number 1 selling nerve care company. as we age, natural changes to our nerves occur which can lead to occasional discomfort. nervive contains b complex vitamins that nourish nerves, build nerve insulation and enhance nerve communication. and, alpha-lipoic acid, which relieves occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. live your life with less nerve discomfort with nervive nerve relief. if you wanna be a winner then get a turkey footlong from subway®. that's oven roasted turkey. piled high with crisp veggies. on freshly baked bread! so, let's get out there and get those footlongs. now at subway®, buy one footlong in the app, and get one 50% off. subway®. eat fresh. 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we invited mahault to see for herself that new dove breakage remedy gives damaged hair the strength it needs. even with repeated combing hair treated with dove shows 97% less breakage. strong hair with new dove breakage remedy. is mealtime a struggle? introducing ore-ida potato pay. where ore-ida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this... ...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime. welcome back, everybody. a gubernatorial recall election looks all but certain in california in the race to possibly race governor gavin newsom just got nowhere interesting. caitlyn jenner says she wants the job. the former olympian wants to, quote, clean up the damage newsom has done to this state, but recall watchers say don't plan your victory party just yet. >> what are caitlyn jenner's chances of actually becoming the governor of california? >> not that great, but it is possible. it's hard to see that she would be the candidate simply because there will be many other republicans. there are already a number of republicans running. >> if jenner even makes it on the ballot, she won't be the first celebrity to run in california. she follows in the steps of ronald reagan and arnold schwarzenegger as well. virginia's gubernatorial election is under way and support for mcauliffe far surpasses opponents in the primary. the only candidate to have double-digit support at 47%. nbc's deepa shivaram is in virginia. good to see you. you spoke with the former governor and what is next in this race for them. what did he have to say? >> reporter: that's right. the first week in of early voting and terry mcauliffe came by this voting location, bringing with him some folks who just had their voting rights restored, people formally incarcerated. he had actually restored some of those folks' rights. this has been a big issue for them in the race. but i got to tell you, yasmin, despite the fact that the polling numbers are very, very high for terry mcauliffe, his message today was that he's hoping democrats don't take their foot off the pedal, essentially. >> all democrats, don't think this is going to be easy. i think that people think, oh, the democrats are going to win all this. we're a purple state in an off year. we're going to have ten house delegate seats in play. donald j. trump has driven the turnout and he's gone. >> reporter: so, yasmin, that's interesting to me that he brought up donald trump there because in reality when you look at the bigger picture aspect of this race on the republican side, state ner amanda chase is actually the favorite. she's someone who's a first herself as donald trump in high heels. she very much is taking that direction of the republican brand of the republican party and seems to be succeeding thus far. so for mcauliffe to send that message to democratic voters, don't let up, especially because this is an off-year election, it will be an interesting litmus test on both sides. >> donald trump in high heels. that's interesting. thank you. good to see you, deepa. that wraps up the hour for me, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i'll be back here tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. eastern. reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation" are up after the break. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. thank you! hey, hey, no, no limu, no limu! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ (ac/dc: back in black) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ back in black ♪ ♪ i hit the sack ♪ ♪ i've been too long... ♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. dig in for just $8.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. cyber attacks are relentlessly advancing. to end them, cybereason built a cyber security solution so advanced... it can end attacks today -- on computers, mobile devices, servers and the cloud. and deliver future-ready protection, keeping you sharp for tomorrow. join us, the defenders, in our mission. cybereason. end cyber attacks. from endpoints to everywhere. good evening, and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, some justice, some peace. with the historic week behind us, tonight, the conviction of derek chauvin exists in its own space as a solemn legal victory for the family of george floyd who, unlike so many black and brown